Business

Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, speaks at a summit on jobs in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 14, 2010.

The city of Aspen is a national leader in municipal energy-efficiency programs that both reduce the effects of climate change and raise public awareness of the issue.

Now a growing chorus is asking why the town's chamber — the 680-business Aspen Chamber Resort Association — is a dues-paying member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has opposed climate legislation.

Included in the outcry is ski-resort operator Aspen Skiing Co.

"Aspen is becoming the iconic place to make a stand on the U.S. Chamber," said Auden Schendler, vice president of sustainability at the company, which is pushing its local chamber to divorce the national chamber.

Members of the Aspen Chamber Resort Association recently voted to stay with the U.S. Chamber, said Aspen chamber executive director Debbie Braun.

"While we don't agree with what's going on in terms of climate-change policy, they do provide some value," she said.

It's the latest battle across the nation that has seen several dozen local chambers either leave or denounce the national federation — which leads 2,600 local chambers — since 2010. Spurred by the grassroots climate-change awareness group 350.org, and joined by the athlete-driven advocacy groups Protect Our Winters and Mountain Rider's Alliance, the Aspen effort urges the local chamber to be the first in Colorado to leave the national organization.

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The campaign centers on the U.S. Chamber's opposition in 2010 to "cap-and-trade" legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions (the legislation failed) and its aggressive lobbying push in the midterm elections that year.

In his 2010 State of American Business Address, chamber president Tom Donohue said the nation's "job creators" are troubled by "a climate-change bill and potential EPA regulations that could significantly raise energy prices and impose new layers of bureaucracy on their organizations." Donohue counted the climate-change bill as one of many potential obstacles to economic recovery.

Aspen has established policies on renewable energy, efficient building codes and carbon taxes — part of its 6-year-old Canary Initiative to reduce greenhouse emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

"It makes absolutely no sense for the city's businesses to be paying dues to a group that is completely opposite of everything Aspen stands for," said Micah Parkin, regional organizer for 350.org.

Braun acknowledged the national chamber's "obstructive position" toward a progressive energy policy. But staff and local chamber members see value in the affiliation.

Braun and her employees have taken a nonprofit leadership program offered by the national chamber as part of her chamber's $800 annual dues. The national group's work on immigration policy, tourism promotion and other business issues such as regulation reduction align with the Aspen chamber's goals, Braun said.

"We are all saying the same thing here. Can't we take a balanced approach to this?" Braun asked. "When you let special interests decide who you are going to be affiliated with, it's a slippery slope, I think."

Warren Klug, chairman of the Aspen chamber's board and longtime general manager of the Aspen Square Hotel, said recent divorce discussions among chamber members were "spirited."

"It is clear that the environmental positions of the U.S. Chamber are directly opposite of the values and priorities of the community of Aspen; but there are other issues on which we agree," Klug said. "The question is, do we end our relationship and advocacy over one issue, however important it is, or do we make clear our disagreements and continue to work together in places where we agree."

Two years ago, New Belgium Brewing left the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce when it declined to leave the national chamber over the organization's stance against climate legislation.

Aspen Skiing, the largest business in the Aspen chamber, is focusing on diplomacy in its call to leave the national group, but leaving the local chamber remains an option.

"We don't have a problem with our Aspen chamber. We have a problem with the U.S. Chamber," said Schendler, noting that his company leaving the local chamber "is on the table. It is a topic of discussion by senior management and has not been ruled out."

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